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‘Find the Fifth Sage’ walkthrough in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The hunt begins for the fifth sage

Purah taps her head in thought in Tears of the Kingdom Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon
Julia Lee (she/her) is a guides producer, writing guides for games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Genshin Impact. She helped launch the Rift Herald in 2016.

Finding the fifth Sage is a critical mission in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. You’ll get the “Find the Fifth Sage quest from Purah, and this lengthy quest will take you from the Ring Ruins in Kakariko Village to the Thunderhead Isles in the sky to a Spirit Temple in the Depths.

There are a few different things you’ll need to do and obtain before you can properly tackle the “Find the Fifth Sage” quest. This guide will walk you through how to start “Find the Fifth Sage” and how to complete “Secret of the Ring Ruins,” clear the storm near the Thunderhead Isles, and complete “Guidance from Ages Past.”


How to start the ‘Find the Fifth Sage’ quest

You can only start the “Find the Fifth Sage” quest after you have completed all four “Regional Phenomena” locations and found Zelda in “Crisis in Hyrule Castle.” Once you’ve completed those tasks, Tulin, Yunobo, Sidon, and Riju will talk about how they’re missing a Sage from the gang. Talk to Purah, and she’ll give you the quest to find the fifth sage, Mineru.

Note that this quest line involves a lot of exploration, so you will need a good chunk of materials. We recommend having the following:

  • Lots of brightbloom seeds to light up the Depths
  • Non-metal weapons that you can use in a thunderstorm
  • Shock-resistance, whether it’s the Rubber Armor or food/elixirs

You will also mandatorily need at least 10 hearts and the camera function on your Purah Pad to do the quest. If you don’t already have the camera, go and complete “Camera Work in the Depths” before trying to progress with “Find the Fifth Sage” any further.


Completing the ‘Secret of the Ring Ruins’ quest

The first stage of “Find the Fifth Sage” is the “Secret of the Ring Ruins” quest. When you talk to Purah, she will mention “the ruins from the age of legends” as a hint for where to go next, referring to the Ring Ruins outside Kakariko Village. (You may have run into them already while doing the “A Trip Through History” quest.)

Our “Secret of the Ring Ruins” walkthrough will guide you through how to complete the quest and move on to the next phase of “Find the Fifth Sage.”

Note: This subquest is optional, but we strongly recommend completing it, as it will clear away the dark clouds and storm over the sky islands in the south. The storm over Thunderhead Isles will remain, but completing this quest will clear up Dragonhead Island and reveal the islands on your map, making it easier to complete “Find the Fifth Sage.”


How to get to Thunderhead Isles and Dragonhead Island

If you skipped over “Secret of the Ring Ruins” for some reason...
You can get to the stormy Thunderhead Isles by using Recall on debris that falls from the sky. We ran around the region below for a bit until we found a suitable rock and glided over.

Unfortunately, visibility on this island is terrible, so we can’t really tell you where to turn right or left, but we can tell you to head to the approximate coordinates (1386, -3370, 0467). There’s a hole right around here that will allow you to enter this sky island, dropping you on Joku-u Shrine.

If you completed “Secret of the Ring Ruins”...
You should be up on Thunderhead Isles via the Popla Foothills Skyview Tower. From there, you only need to climb up the isles enough so you can glide to Dragonhead Island, which is under the Thunderhead Isles. In the center of Dragonhead, you’ll see a building to enter, allowing you to drop down on Joku-u Shrine.

Link in Tears of the Kingdom walks toward a structure on a sky island. Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

In front of the shrine, there are some vines, so burn them away with fire and head deeper into the island.

There’ll be a goddess statue on your left to turn in extra Blessings of Light if you have any. The door in front requires 10 hearts to open, so if you don’t have that, consider making a trade to the demon statue or farming out more shrines and coming back.

After you open the door, an ominous mask will be in front of you. Interact with it to begin the next part of the quest.


Completing ‘Guidance from Ages Past’

The second you interact with the mask, you’ll begin the “Guidance from Ages Past” quest. This is the longest part of “Find the Fifth Sage,” and will take you to the Depths where you will fight a Seized Construct and receive Mineru’s construct.

Our “Guidance from Ages Past” walkthrough will guide you through how to complete the intricate quest.


Completing the ‘Find the Fifth Sage’ quest

After you complete “Guidance from Ages Past” and have Mineru’s Sage ability, you can head back to Purah. Speaking to her will complete both the “Find the Fifth Sage” quest, as well as the “Crisis in Hyrule” quest.

Purah will then prompt you to the final quest in the game: “Destroy Ganondorf.”

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